Summit Travel LLC — Dishonest Practices
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STAY CLEAR!!! This business is involved in very deceitful practices in how it recruits business - not all information and details are clearly stated - rather, they are hidden under terms like "subject to qualification, " and "certain restrictions apply, " leaving it wide open for them to usurp everything from you but give you NO REAL VALUE in return. Do yourself a big favor - STAY AWAY!
The most fraudlent, deceiving presentation I have ever been to. After leaving the sales pitch I went to the internet to check on Summit Travel and Vacations Network International (VNI, their "parent" comapny). I found nothing but complaints. The presentation was amateure and only 1 person among a staff of 6 had a business card. The meeting was held in Summit's office in Edmond, OK, that was supposed to be a travel agency. There were easily obtainable travel posters on all of the walls but not a single brochure of the type you will find in any legimate travel agency. After the presentation they put you in a room with their "closer" who looked like he had been on a 3 day alcholic binge. He explained that their $7, 995 offer plus benefits was good for only that day. My wife and I asked if their was any information on their's or the parent company. He produced a brochure that was filled with glowing reports from happy clients. We asked if we could have the brochuere and he explained we could only get a copy after we paid the nearly $8, 000. We asked if he expectedus to write a check for $8, 000 to a company we knew nothing about and he said 30, 000 people had done so. We said we would like to think about it and would like to get the 2 free airline tickets, the free 2 night, 3 day resort coupon, the dinning card and Travelocity $50 coupon that were promised in the mailer they sent to us. They use the Travelocity name and logo but you later find that Travelocity has nothing to do with either company. We came home and looked at the "freebies" and quickly noticed that the free airline tickets and resort coupon were "certificates" that require $250 to "activate". We declined to do so. We then attempted to use the 'free", $100 restaurant coupon. This was nothing more than a "Groupon" type card that required you to pay for a discount at a list of third rate local restaurants. Everything from beginning to end of the proposals by these companies is fraudlent and I do not know our legal system allows them to operate.
I wish we had read this/investigated this before we did purchase the package...I'm afraid we're out of $5000. I feel like the biggest idiot for falling for this scam. I think I need to start standing outside of their office on the week-end, picketing this "business", so that no one else makes this mistake. This fraudulent business should be run out of town. I agree with everything you've said, from the BS travel voucher we were supposed to receive, right down to the bogus $100 dining gift card. It's all a SCAM.
I am glad I found this page. I was invited to this presentation between Thursday and Saturday, April 4th-6th. I have an appointment set with them and may go along with copies of this to provide all of the other individuals that may not know what they are getting into. Kind of sad to see people who have no morals and continue to take advantage of other people.
So glad I found this board of comments from the BB site before committing to a presentation date. I did call the toll free number to find out the name of the business and I'm suppose to call back next week to set up the time and date. Needless to say, I won't be doing that. Thanks to whoever is responsible for creating this board.
Thanks for the heads up! We wont be showing up for our scheduled presentation either. Nothing is free. NOTHING! Except God's grace which is really purchased at great expense.
I just made an appointment with Summit Travel for Saturday, 15 June 2013. Needless to say, we won't be keeping the appointment. My wife and I are both retired and we can't afford to be scammed. Thanks to you all for your advice.
All would like to thank all that have posted thier experinces with this company, Just made an appointment for June 21 at 2:00 NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, Thanks You all.
We fell for it hook, line and sinker and we are NOT the type of people who do that! On the way to our meeting, my husband and I agreed that we were just going to listen to the presentation, then leave with the promised travel voucher and restaurant discount. In our case, the presenter was a very nice, seemingly very respectable young man - in fact, he had served in Iraq and we were impressed with his attitude and friendliness - his presentation was enticing, to say the least and we ended up paying $5000 before we left to come home. All the people at Summit were so excited FOR us, we thought! As soon as we got in the car, we knew we had made a mistake. The plan does not work for us for a variety of reasons, none of which did we think of at the time. It just looked and sounded so good! I have tried several times to get our money back, but it seems that the contract we signed is legal and binding and there is absolutely NO recourse. If anyone ever finds a way to get a refund, please post it to this site!
We were also victims of this scam. We are pursuing a number of avenues, including filing complaints with the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, OK Dept. of Consumer Credit and sending a report to "In Your Corner." We'd encourage you all to do the same. This is truly awful, and we plan to fight it every way we know. I'm a retired journalist, and I'm going to the newspapers next.
My husband and I got scammed by their HIGH PRESSURE SALES and now we owe over $3900 to this company for something we will never use. The free airline tickets were a rip off and a joke. This is the biggest waste of time and money ever. DO NOT GO or BUY ANYTHING FROM THESE PEOPLE. I don t know how they sleep at night. They also tell you if you do not buy right then while you are in their office that the offer will no longer be good anymore so you feel forced to buy right then.
We are still being billed for the annual service charge of $287 by Duvera Financial. We had contacted the VNI headquarters in Georgia several months ago and talked to the customer service department. We were assured that our account would be closed. They lied to us. We have contacted the Oklahoma Attorney General and filed a complaint. Also, due to this latest billing, I submitted a complaint to BBB. Summit Travel is the most dishonest company we have ever encountered. They snagged us for $3, 294. The sales agent started out at a price of $7, 000 and when we didn't "bite" he lowered the price to the "employee discount". STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUSINESS!!
We are among those who think we are intelligent enough to spot a scam like this, but we fell for it. We immediately took steps available to us under the Oklahoma Consumer Protection laws to cancel the contract, but they would not. We have filed a complaint with the Oklahoma Attorney General. We are also being billed for the "annual fee, " by Duvera Financial. We have written them, with a copy of our letter to Summit Travel asking for cancellation of the contract. They say they have to be informed by Summit Travel that the contract has been cancelled, so they say they will continue to bill us, and to report us to the credit bureau for refusal to pay. We have contacted the Oklahoma Attorney General when we got the first billing from them, and again when they would not take our information re: cancellation. We are now planning to contact an attorney.